Brick-machine



( o Model.)

0. L. EMENS. BRICK MACHINE.

Patented Apr. 5, 1881 i jvwewboz I aflozne% M witnaooeo ar. Washingon. o. c.

il'NiTan STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES L. EMENS, OF HOLTON, MICHIGAN.

BRICK-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 360,569, dated April 5, 1887. Application filed September 27, 1886. Serial No. 214,649. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that 1, CHARLES L. EMENS, a citizen ofthe United States,residing at Holton, in the county of Muskegon and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Brick Machines; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description oftheinvention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to that class of brickmachines wherein the clay is fed forward to g the molds by means of a feed-screw, the object of my improvement being to avoid the endthrust which is so charjcteristic of screw briclcmachincs, or, in other words, to provide mechanism by means ofwhich the energy generated by the backward thrust of the screwshaft, which is commonly expended or wasted upon a casting or other device for keeping the shaft in place, may be made to do actual work, thereby doubling the capacity of the machine with but a slight increase of driving-power; and the invention consists, essentially, in the combination, with the right and left hand feed-screw, of a mixing 'or tempering shaft;

and, further, it comprises certain details in the construction, combination, and arrangement of the various parts, substantially as will be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the annexed drawings, illustrating my invention, Figure 1 is a vertical section of my improved brick-machine. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the same, in partial section, on the line 1 1 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a view of one of the covers for the outer ends of thecompartments.

Like letters of reference denotelike parts in all the figures.

A and A represent oppositely-located duplicate compartments of the horizontal chamber which contains the feed-screw, said compartments being separated by an intermediate casing or box, G, joined to the basal portions of the compartments and containing journalboxes H H, in which the horizontal shaft D is journaled. \Vithin the casing G is also contained a gear, F, or other actuating-wheel, se-

cured upon the shaft D between the journalbearings. The opposite end portions of the shaft D extend throughout the compartments A and A to near the outmost extremities thereof, and are furnished, respectively,with a series, 1*], of left-hand angers, located in compartment A, and a series, 15, of right-hand angers, locatedin compartment A, said screw portions being usually made tapering, and the compartments surrounding them being likewise tapered to conform to the screws. The horizontal chamber is conveniently supported by any suitable frame-work, such as the base N and uprights M M.

It will be evident that when my improved right and left hand screw is used as a feederin a brick-machine, the horizontal end-thrust of the shaft, caused by the revolution of the right-hand screw in the firmly-bedded clay, will be opposed and counteracted by the horisontal thrust of the shaft in the opposite direction, caused by the revolution of the lefthand screw in the clay, and vice versa. The opposite tendencies to movement in the shaft will therefore balance each other, and the shaft will not be subject or liable to an endwise displacement from its normal position.

In brick-machines as ordinarily constructed the end-thrust of the screw-shaft is guarded against by means of a heavy casting, against which the shaft abuts, or by making the bearing which holds the end of the shaft of considerable thickness and great strength. Should the casting or bearing give way, obviously the machine will be useless until repaired; but with my improved machine no such accident is possible, and there is no wasting of energy against a casting, but the thrust of one portion of the shaft sustains the thrust of the other portion, and this mutual counteraction of the two forces holds the shaft in equilibrium, as well as doubling the capacity of the brickmachine, with but a slight increase in the amount of driving-power required.

Above or otherwise centrally adjacent to the horizontal chamber is placed a chamber, B, joined to the horizontal chamber and communicating with it, there being an intervening space between the wall of the casing G and the point where the compartments unite with the bottom of the vertical chamber. This chamber B contains a tempering or forcing screw, 0, constructed in any desirable manner, and

adapted to carry the clay down through the ICO chamber after it has been fed into the upper end, and supply it in proper quantities to the compartments A and A, to be fed forward by the screws to the brick-molds.

The brick-molds are located at the outer extremities of the compartments A and A, and are arranged as follows: The outer ends of these compartment-s are covered and closed by means of plates or covers I, (see Fig.3,) secured in place by any suitable means, such as bolts. For a certain distance around the center of each cover it is made intact; but the remaining portion of the cover is provided with holes or apertures a, of proper shape and size to correspond with the ends of the dies J, in which the bricks are molded, said dies being of the ordinary parallelopiped form and being secured within the holes or apertures a or made integral with the covers. I preferably provide each of the covers with two dies,which lie parallel to each other and in the same horizontal plane.

The clay which is fed forwardby the screws will strike against the covers I I and be forced nto the dies J J', from the outer ends of which it will emerge in compact bars, which may be cut into the desired lengths for bricks by any convenient cutoff mechanism. As is well known by those versed in the art of making bricks, the clay which is directly in advance of the ends of the feedscrews has a spiral structure, which has been imparted to it by the screws; hence if the dies were in line with the aXis of the screws the clay out of which the bricks are formed would not be solid and compact, but would consist of spiral or convoluted laminations, and the resulting bricks would be of an inferior quality. I therefore situate the dies at a certain distance from the centers of the plates I I, leaving the portions of said plates intact, so that rally-formed clay may strike against central the spithem and so that the clay which enters the molds may be freed of the spiral structures and the bars of clay which emerge therefrom may be firm and solid.

Having thus described myinvention, whatI claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination, with the horizontal chamber and the right and left feed-screw therein, of a tempering-chamber communicating with the horizontal chamber and containing a tempering-shaft which feeds the clay to the right and left hand screws,substantially as specified and shown.

2. The combination of the horizontal chamber having duplicate compartments and an intermediate casing, a right and left hand feedscrew journaled in the intermediate casing, a temperingchamber located centrally adjacent to the horizontal chamber and communicating with the compartments of the latter,

and a tempering or forcing device in the temporing-chamber, substantially as described.

3. The combination of the horizontal chamher having duplicate compartments and a casing intermediate between said compartments, the feed -screw provided with right hand angers in one compartment and left-hand angers in the other compartment, journaled in the intermediate casing, and actuated by devices applied to that portion of the shaft within the said casing, and a tempering-chamber and its shaft arranged opposite the middle casing, so as to deliver clay to the duplicate compartments, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES L. EMENS. 

